ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the first years of therapy with a patient contending with both external and internal intrusive forces, leaving her struggling to form an authentic, thinking mind. It shows how Donald Meltzer's concepts of intrusive identification and claustrum phenomena have provided a crucial framework to help understand the patient's internal system. Meltzer initially used the term "massive projective identification" to describe the excessive use of projective identification as conceptualized by Melanie Klein. The chapter presents the case study of Olivia. Olivia's intrusive relationships were most clearly demonstrated in her presentation of two important people in her life: her mother and her fiance. Olivia may discover she could bear to be uncertain, to have mixed feelings and to develop a mind of her own. Her mother had left Olivia at the end of the corridor where her cries would not disturb her. Olivia has created a long corridor between us through her move back to her mother's village.
